We really do ask a lot of the presentation gods.
They really want to help sprinkle their magic, smooth out the rough edges, supply us with a great answer to a question or an unexpectedly hilarious yet apt anecdote… and then we get it in their way.
I was coaching a friend the other night for a presentation she’s delivering today. Presenting some papers at some huge event with the whole of her industry attending.
You know, no pressure.
I found myself giving her this advice:
Remember: it’s never as bad as you fear, and rarely quite as excellent as you hope.
As we were talking, I realised that most of the pain doesn’t come from the presentation itself (which, let’s face it, goes past in a flash) but from the fact that almost everyone (including, if I’m not really strict, me) does a crazy thing before a presentation which makes the preparation hell, and then an even worse thing after, which means even when we’re done, it’s still hell.
All in all, no wonder people don’t look forward to presentations.
The nightmare
See, first off, we imagine all the terrible things that might go wrong – they’re going to ask terrible questions, we’ll forget what we’re going to say, run out of time, people will laugh and not laugh but the wrong way round, we’ll freeze, pee our pants, cry… whatever – and squeeze all the misery out of the waiting/planning process.
Thing is, it’s never as bad as we fear.
(Presuming you’ve done some kind of reality-based planning and aren’t just winging it.)
As Byron Katie would say: Reality is much kinder than our thoughts about it.
The dream
Then, after we’re done and it wasn’t quite as bad as we thought it was going to be (in fact, probably a great deal better) we compare it to our imagined perfect presentation – you know, the one where THEY cry and pee their pants, laugh, don’t laugh (the right way round), the whole crowd rise to their feet, cheering and clapping and rushing the stage, TED and Time magazine and Google and Seth Godin and Stephen freakin’ Hawking all offer us jobs, money, book deals, life-long friendship… you know, THAT one – and go:
Yeah, it wasn’t quite as good as I hoped…
Oh, come ON… Give the presentation gods SOMETHING to work with.
The real world
Being realistic at both ends can actually help them to help you make presentations something surprisingly doable.
You’ve just got to leave the door open at least a little…
Ring any bells?
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